Everyone quickly retreated to the edge of the stone hall. Zhu Yinxi traced a sonic barrier with his jade flute, blocking the falling debris, while Liu Qingyang hurriedly pulled a bronze compass from his storage bag, his fingers moving rapidly across its surface.
"The Nine Palaces Array needs to be cracked in a specific order," he said, beads of sweat forming on his forehead. "Qian, Kan, Gen, Zhen, Xun, Li, Kun, Dui, and finally the Central Palace..."
"You actually know how to break arrays?" Duan Xianxing looked at Liu Qingyang in surprise. "Aren't you a refinery master?"
"You learn a bit of everything in my line of work," Liu Qingyang gave a bitter smile. "But this is about as much as I know."
Li Nanzhu’s expression was also very grave. "The Sword Heart Sect has already broken five pillars. Looking at the marks, they must have shattered them by force using spiritual energy." She pointed to the shattered spirit stones on the ground. "Breaking it like this has already disrupted the balance of the array."
She truly hadn't expected Cang Dongqing and the others to break the array this way. With this method, it was no wonder no one had competed with her for the opportunity—everyone else had simply been blocked out by such violent means.
Duan Xianxing drew Wait a Moment. "So what do we do now? Continue breaking them in their order?"
"No," Zhu Yinxi said deeply. "Forcing the array will only intensify the backlash." He pointed to the four stone pillars that were still glowing. "We must find the correct sequence to break them."
"Not only that," Liu Qingyang quickly added. "We need to stabilize the remaining four pillars first, then reconstruct the balance of the array."
Li Nanzhu was also carefully observing the shattered spirit stones. "The Sword Heart Sect used the method of Five Elements overcoming, but the order was wrong. They broke the metal position first, causing the earth qi to become too excessive..."
"So now we need to supplement water and drain earth?" Duan Xianxing scratched his head.
"More than that," Zhu Yinxi suddenly spoke. "Look at the cracks in the pillar bases; they’ve also disturbed the leylines."
Upon hearing this, the faces of the other three turned even uglier. Those people from the Sword Heart Sect were truly fools. How could they manage to disturb the leylines while breaking an array? Did they learn nothing else in their sect? Now, everyone else had to suffer the consequences.
Just then, a collapsing sound came from the rock wall, and several disheveled rogue cultivators tumbled out of a fissure. The array disk at the waist of the man leading them was already shattered, and a trail of blood hung from the corner of his mouth; clearly, they had also tried to break the array elsewhere.
The man propped himself up against the rock wall. "The path ahead was destroyed by the Sword Heart Sect. We had no choice but to retreat."
Liu Qingyang frowned as he looked at their damaged robes. "You encountered traps too?"
"More than just traps," a female cultivator gritted her teeth. "After that group from the Sword Heart Sect passed through, they intentionally triggered even more pitfalls."
Li Nanzhu looked at these people with slight surprise. They didn't seem too heavily injured. If she remembered correctly, these people were all at the early Golden Core stage. To have made it this far alive clearly meant they had some skill.
"Young Master Liu," the leader of the cultivators cupped his hands toward Liu Qingyang. "I am Zhao Wuya of Qingyun City. I apologize for the offense earlier. About this array..."
Liu Qingyang raised an eyebrow, not expecting the other party to initiate conversation. He instinctively glanced at Zhu Yinxi, but seeing no reaction, he didn't dwell on it. After a moment's thought, he returned the gesture. "Fellow Daoist Zhao is too polite. This is a Nine Palaces Linked Array. It needs to be solved in a specific order. Since the Sword Heart Sect has already damaged it, we need to reconstruct it."
"I see." Zhao Wuya nodded. "Does Young Master Liu have any good ideas?"
Li Nanzhu noticed that although these rogue cultivators were in a sorry state, their eyes were clear, showing they weren't reckless people. She exchanged a look with Zhu Yinxi, who nodded slightly.
"How about this," Li Nanzhu suggested. "Why don't we cooperate to leave this place?"
The rogue cultivators looked at each other. Zhao Wuya pondered, "Your righteousness is appreciated, but... those people from the Sword Heart Sect..."
"Forget about them," Duan Xianxing interrupted. "You were screwed over by them just like us. If it weren't for them, things wouldn't be this bad."
As they spoke, the stone hall shook violently again. Stalactites tumbled from the ceiling, and more cracks opened in the ground.
"There's no more time!" Zhu Yinxi said solemnly. "Liu Qingyang, you take command."
Liu Qingyang didn't decline and quickly adjusted his compass. "The Nine Palaces Array must be solved according to the Eight Trigrams positions. Although only five pillars remain, we must try our best to follow the order. Fellow Daoist Zhao, you two take the Dui and Li positions; Brother Duan, take the Zhen position; Junior Sister Li, take the Xun position; Brother Zhu and I will handle the rest."
However, it wasn't long before the attempt was forced to a halt.
"The situation is temporarily stable, but we need Five Elements spiritual items to rebalance it. Otherwise, the moment we leave, it will fail immediately." Sweat poured down Liu Qingyang's forehead. "I only have one water-repelling bead, but where can we find..."
Zhao Wuya suddenly took out a jade box. "Would a fire essence stone work?"
Li Nanzhu nodded after a quick inspection. "It complements perfectly. Supplement the Kan position with the water-repelling bead and the Li position with the fire essence stone."
As the two spiritual items were placed, the remaining two pillars suddenly lit up with a green glow.
Zhu Yinxi tapped his jade flute on the ground, and a surge of spiritual energy spread along the patterns of the leylines. "The earth qi is temporarily stabilized."
"Those people from the Sword Heart Sect must have realized something and stopped making trouble. At least they aren't stupid to the core, otherwise no amount of repair on our part would matter." Duan Xianxing also took a breath. This repair process had been a race against death, and everyone else was soaked in sweat.
"The final step." Liu Qingyang's face was grim. "We need to inject both Yin and Yang energies into the central pillar simultaneously."
"Who has those? Bring them out quickly!" Zhu Yinxi said deeply. But everyone looked at each other; clearly, no one had such things. Even Liu Qingyang searched for a long time without finding a substitute.
"Is there no other way..." Zhao Wuya gnashed his teeth. At this moment, he hated the people of the Sword Heart Sect intensely. If they hadn't acted so recklessly, how could they have fallen into such danger?
"It doesn't have to be Yin and Yang. Would spiritual energies that are mutually generating or overcoming work?" Li Nanzhu suddenly asked.
"It could, but it requires the injected spiritual energies to be perfectly equal. Even if two cultivators with opposing spiritual roots injected energy at the same time, there's no way to guarantee they'd be equal. It’s an impossible task," Liu Qingyang said weakly.
"I'll do it." Li Nanzhu took a deep breath. "I have water and fire spiritual roots."
"Are you joking!" Zhao Wuya cried out. "Having both water and fire spiritual roots is a miracle for cultivation already. You're only at the Qi Condensation stage. The spiritual energy required for this array isn't something you can withstand!"
Li Nanzhu couldn't care about that anymore. Only she could do this, and she had to try. Otherwise, everyone might die here. Although her Senior Brother and Liu Qingyang didn't die at this time in the original story, the plot had already changed. There was no guarantee that her presence wouldn't cause their deaths.
She wouldn't allow it!
Li Nanzhu quickly stood before the central pillar and pressed her hands against its surface. "I have a wood spiritual root to act as a buffer." She took a deep breath. "There's no other way now. If you don't want to die, protect me!"
Everyone’s expressions were solemn, but they knew this was the only way. Zhu Yinxi and Duan Xianxing pursed their lips tightly as they looked at Li Nanzhu, but they ultimately stepped back to protect her.
Seeing the others retreat, Li Nanzhu took a deep breath and closed her eyes, sensing the flow of spiritual energy within her.
"Hiss!"
The moment the two spiritual energies were simultaneously injected into the pillar, Li Nanzhu couldn't help but gasp.
Just as the water spiritual energy flowed from her left hand, the fire spiritual energy surged violently from her right.
This was her first time using two opposing spiritual energies at once. They crashed violently within her meridians, the pain making her vision darken. Her arms shook uncontrollably, and her teeth chattered, but this was only the beginning.
Hardening her heart, Li Nanzhu directly controlled the spiritual energy to pour into the stone pillar. The cold and hot forces fought inside the pillar, making her arms go numb from the vibration.
"Junior Sister!" Duan Xianxing called out anxiously.
Li Nanzhu leaned heavily against the pillar, her knuckles turning white. She could feel the two energies tearing through her body into the pillar, and she had to use every ounce of her strength to ensure the outputs were perfectly identical.
Where the two energies collided felt like knives slicing through her meridians, but strangely, under this intense pain, her meridians didn't tear.
Just as she was about to give in, she noticed something unusual—the meridians being battered by the spiritual energy weren't actually taking damage. She suddenly remembered that during her previous breakthrough, the life force of her wood spiritual root had repeatedly nourished them.
Now, the stored vitality within her wood spiritual root came into play again. Emerald-green spiritual energy wound around the two opposing forces like vines, adjusting their intensity with perfect precision.
Li Nanzhu was surprised to find that the two forces that originally repelled each other were beginning to reach a delicate balance under the mediation of the wood energy.
Her breathing gradually steadied, but her spiritual energy consumption was accelerating. She could clearly feel the vitality stored in her wood spiritual root rapidly converting, replenishing her spent energy. This conversion brought a peculiar warmth.
"I see..." She forced a difficult smile, her back already soaked with sweat.
Li Nanzhu grew determined. Since she had the wood spiritual root as a safety net, she stopped suppressing the conflict between the two energies. She guided them to clash back and forth within specific meridians, tempering them repeatedly before injecting them into the pillar.
Every collision made her whole body tremble with pain, but her meridians maintained a surprising resilience.
The runes on the stone pillar began to light up one by one. A smile slowly crept onto Li Nanzhu’s lips. Success was imminent, but her face grew paler as her spiritual energy approached its end.
At that moment, the four people from the Sword Heart Sect rushed out of the opposite tunnel. Their path forward had been blocked by the array and couldn't be forced open. Hearing the commotion behind them, they turned back to investigate.
Cang Dongqing saw Li Nanzhu standing by the central pillar and shrieked, "What are you doing!"
Le Changxi’s face changed drastically. "Water and fire dual spiritual roots?!"
Cang Dongqing suddenly threw out a bolt of spiritual energy. "She must be destroying the array! She wants to kill us all!"
"Clang!"
Zhu Yinxi swept his jade flute, dispersing the energy, and said coldly, "Liu Qingyang, guard her!"
Liu Qingyang immediately summoned four bronze mirrors, forming a defensive array.
Duan Xianxing stood with his sword, staring warily at the Sword Heart Sect group.
The other rogue cultivators also silently gathered together, clearly having no intention of letting the Sword Heart Sect interrupt Li Nanzhu.
"Stop!" Le Changxi shouted, his sword pointing directly at Li Nanzhu. "What on earth are you doing?"
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